Wisconsin State Fair Park's board votes unanimously to remove Executive Director Rick Frenette
WEST ALLIS -- Members of Wisconsin State Fair Park's Board of Directors met Wednesday, May 11th and decided to remove State Fair Park Executive Director Rick Frenette -- and they aren't offering a reason why.
Rick Frenette
Frenette was in charge of the Wisconsin State Fair, the State Fair Expo Center and the Milwaukee Mile racetrack.
But the State Fair Park's board on Wednesday night voted unanimously to fire him.
The Board of Directors went into closed session for more than four hours. In the end, the vote was to fire Frenette, who has run the State Fair since 2010.
"I think the loser in this case is the state of Wisconsin," Frenette's attorney, Frank Gimbel said.
Meeting of Wisconsin State Fair Park board
About 40 to 50 people were on hand for the meeting -- mostly employees and vendors who said they support Frenette.
The board chairman, as well as state lawyers are refusing to say why Frenette has been fired -- saying this is a personnel matter, albeit one that involves a state employee.
Frank Gimbel
Gimbel said the reason is because Frenette gave merit raises to a number of employees, including himself.
Gimbel said Frenette didn't realize he had gone through the wrong channels to give those raises, and calls it a simple mistake -- one that didn't deserve to end with his firing.
"For all intents and purposes, Rick admitted there was some negligence in his oversight of that process but there was no intention, there was no illicit or illegal behavior on his behalf," Gimbel said.
Gimbel did not comment as to what his and Frenette's next move will be. Gimbel did say he's extremely upset by the board's handling of the situation.
"He got less due process than somebody accused of stealing," Gimbel said.
The board on Wednesday voted to name COO Kathleen O'Leary interim executive director.
State Fair Park Finances
According to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, State Fair Park has about $2.9 million in reserve.
The LFB provides the following data of State Fair Park's total expenses and revenues for the last five years:
| Years | Total Expenses | Total Revenue |
| 2010-11 | $17,837,30 | $21,941,600 |
| 2011-12 | $18,676,600 | $19,594,200 |
| 2012-13 | $20,488,300 | $20,256,500 |
| 2013-14 | $20,966,600 | $22,808,500 |
| 2014-15 | $23,829,600 | $23,747,100 |
The fiscal bureau notes that even in years where expenses were greater than revenue, that was due to debt service payments which are covered by general state funds. The bureau says revenue from fair events has covered the cost of park operations in each of the last five years.
Frenette the target of Ohio ethics investigation
In 2003, a report from the Ohio Inspector General found Frenette had committed violations by taking gifts from companies that did business with the Ohio State Fair, which he ran at the time.
Frenette resigned shortly thereafter. He then ran the Utah State Fair before coming to Wisconsin in 2010.
Gimbel says the Ohio report did not come up during his conversations with the board of directors.